February 12, 2006

Plaskett almost becomes a millionaire

At chessbase.com, the British chess Grandmaster James Plaskett writes:

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I first tried to get on to this show Who Want To Be A Millionaire (WWTBAM) in 1999. My first hit got me on, but I got the first two Fastest Finger First trials wrong, and the third FFF, which was "Starting at the fingertips, put these parts of the arm in the sequence", saw me, indeed, get Knuckle, Wrist, Elbow and Shoulder in sequence... but

1. a policeman did it faster, and

2. there was a fault with several of the consoles, including mine, and so my effort did not even register as one of the accurate ones...

Prison Break

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CHICAGO (AP) -- Six inmates, including two who are charged with murder, escaped from the Cook County Jail during the night by taking advantage of short staffing, authorities said Sunday.

Two escapees were captured in suburban Oak Park, police said.

The inmates escaped around midnight from a special housing unit for inmates with disciplinary problems, where only one guard was on duty instead of two, said Cook County Sheriff's Department spokesman Bill Cunningham.

One inmate threw hot shower water on the guard and held him at bay with a homemade knife, then handcuffed the guard and put on his uniform, officials said.

That inmate opened doors to let six other inmates out. One immediately was caught, but the other six got over a barbed wire fence and onto the streets.

The jail break was the second since Friday. An inmate facing armed robbery charges broke out Friday by apparently slipping into a laundry truck, but he was arrested Saturday at a suburban motel, authorities said.

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[ Note to selfneed to add that "short staffing" excuse and "X were captured" possibility to my prison break story generator. I think I already have "laundry truck" logic in there, somewhere. Must check. This story violates convention by not naming the escapees. ]